Mass Effect: Restoration
by Alistair Lowary
Summary: Commander Shepard wakes up in the ruined streets of a city and finds humanity struggling to rebuild after a horrendous war. And on the other side of the galaxy, Tali'Zorah struggles to cope with the supposed loss of her only love. Rated M for dark themes, language, and "stuff".


A/N: Well, I actually have a plot for this story, so wait until the next chapter. Also I'm sorry about the whole last story thing, it just wasn't coming for me. so anyway, here's Mass Effect: Restoration. Also, note the date this chapter takes place. There's no connection with the events in 2001, this is _just a god-damn date. _So enjoy the story.

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~ Mass Effect: Restoration ~

Chapter 1: Lazarus

Alistair Lowary

_Old London, Earth_

_Sept. 11, 2186_

_1341 Hours_

Nearly a million thoughts ran through Shepard's mind as he struggled to regain consciousness. _"Where the hell... how the hell... when the hell..."_ He had expected to wake up dead, nor not wake up at all; the sensation of being alive was something he was completely unprepared for.

Shepard opened his eyes to the world, and was rewarded after nearly a minute of blurriness with the ashen grey sky of the London afternoon. The air was still choked with ash, and Shepard coughed violently upon inhaling it. He looked down, but found himself trapped halfway under a large piece of rubble. There were many noises; shuttles flew overhead, the sound of a vehicle rolling nearby, and power tools excavating the rubble. There was some sort of project being undertaken fairly near to him, and Shepard wanted nothing more than to call out. But he was just so damn thirsty, that his shouts came out only as near-silent whispers.

The commander hoped that someone would stumble upon him. After all, half his body was exposed, so he could probably be visible even from a low flying shuttle. All Shepard had to do was lie down and wait. But as he did just that, another thought crossed his mind. With all of the visible injuries on his body; the bloody skull, the burns that he felt on his face, the armor melted onto his skin. With all of that, why exactly didn't he feel any pain?

His answer came in the form of a sharp sting in his arm followed by a soft beep. His hardsuit's VI was still functioning somehow, and it was pumping reserves of painkillers into his system. He instantly felt a rush of dizziness as the medication took effect, but it subsided within a few seconds. Shepard rested his head against the cool concrete and listened to the sounds above him.

There was a man, who's two-tone voice labeled him as turian, and someone who sounded a lot like a human man, talking a few meters away. Shepard wanted to call out to them, get their attention, but he still couldn't form any words in his mouth. He couldn't move his arms to signal them, his hands were pinned by the debris on top of him. The commander stirred on the ground, he needed to get up!

The turian, whom Shepard decided was the foreman of the bunch due to his giving orders over what the soldier assumed was an omni-tool, suddenly spoke up loud enough to get Shepard to lie still and listen. "What's that you've got there, Phillips?"

There was a sound of something metallic being tossed from one person to another. "Take a look, sir."

The turian grunted. "Dogtags, so what?"

Shepard tried to move his neck to look down at his chest, and that's what made his heart skip. His tags were missing. Could those be the tags that they were holding? With renewed vigor, the commander tried to pry his way free of the rubble so that he could sit up. He failed miserably, he just didn't have the physical strength. He collapsed on his back again as he heard the human reply.

"Check the name, sir."

There was a pause, and the turian had a sense of excitement in his voice when he spoke."Oh, spirits... This is... get Admiral Logan, tell him we've got a lead."

"Yes, sir!" The human could be heard turning to run, presumably back to camp. As luck would have it, he just happened to run right past the piece of rebar that Shepard was currently trapped under. With a tremendous amount of pain, Shepard jerked his hand out from underneath the debris and shot it into the air. There was a cracking sound as he did so, and he wasn't sure if he broke his arm or his fingers. It didn't really matter, however, with the amount of painkillers being pumped into him by his suit.

Shepard heard the footsteps stop, and quickly turn, hopefully to face him. He held his breath for a minute, before the call came out. "Sir... SIR! OVER HERE! I THINK HE'S OVER HERE!" The main cried at the top of his lungs, and the commander heard several new footsteps coming toward him. A face appeared over the rubble and stared into his eyes. "Holy Christ, Shepard?" He whispered. It was the same man that had been talking. "SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

Within a moment, several hands grasped the rubble and lifted it off of the soldier. Shepard grunted as they did so, trying his best to help. Despite the lack of pain, he also lacked the strength to help. The debris was lifted, and he was finally free. "Thanks..." He managed, and the other people there looked at each other.

"You look like hell, commander." The man said. "Don't worry, we've got a hospital and we're going to get you there as soon as possible."

Shepard tried to thank them, but his mouth was still too dry and too irritated to make a sound. He nodded slowly, and then felt a blackness starting to envelop him. He didn't know how long he'd been laying there, and combining that with the sudden rescue, it made him incredibly tired. "I..." He managed, before he slipped into a deep, deep sleep. The last thing he heard was the sound of an emergency vehicle's siren approaching.

_TO BE CONTINUED..._

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Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, the end of the first chapter. Please drop of a review of what you think about it so far. I apologize for the short length of the chapter, but story introductions are always hard for me. Now that this is done, we can get into the other characters and the plot. Be sure to tune in next time!


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